Not for the first time this season,
Lotus’ grand prix was over soon after
it begun -–and again it wasn't thier
fault.
According to Romain Grosjean, as
the field ploughed into turn three, the
first braking zone of the lap, an over-
zealous Daniel Ricciardo triggered the
chain-reaction.
“Daniel must have thought his brakes
and tyres would be able to slow him
better than they did,” Grosjean explained.
According to the Frenchman, the Red
Bull was the catalyst that saw three
cars eliminated on the opening lap with
Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado and Jenson
Button all victims.
Fernando Alonso, who was also
involved in the scrap, was able to carry on.
The Spaniard had a slightly different view.
“We had some problems right from the
first corner with the two Lotuses that
were fighting among themselves in a
very aggressive way,” he recalled.
“That caused the two McLarens to also
make contact but I was more fortunate
than Jenson because he had to retire on
the spot while I could carry on.”
Trying to avoid the crashing Lotus’
ahead, Alonso locked his rear brakes,
spearing him into the side of teammate
Jenson Button.
“My car jumped quite high and when
I landed all systems shut down,” Button
said.
“The impact turned the engine off, so
I had to stop. I was alongside Fernando
and didn’t realise he wasn’t spinning but,
anyway, there was no way I could have
done anything else.”
Alonso managed to escape with just
a broken wing, which the team replaced
at the end of the lap. With the safety car
out to clear the debris the Alonso was
able to catch back up to the back of the
pack despite a slow stop, and with high
attrition went on to claim his first point of
the season.
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GPWEEK.com // 27
GPWEEK.com //
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